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The Cycle
Also known as the Machine War or Great Civil War (by humans), the Cursed War (by Golems), Ragnarok (by the Valkyr), or The Purge (by the Fairies). Participants Humans, Armadia, Umaria, and Valkyria (humans only) on one side, The Cael, Faeries, and Valkyr on the other. Cause In the 500 years following Sevolaene's defeat at the hands of the rest of the Cael, humans lost their faith in their creators once again. They slowly turned away from magic and put themselves into creating more advanced technology and weaponry. Battleships were build, carrying both magic- and gunpowder-run cannons and ran swiftly due to animal-powered and magic-powered primitive engines. Soon, the true engine was developed, running solely on technology and primitive mechs and airships followed. Humans, with their great arrogance, declared war on the Cael, forming an alliance consisting of Umaria, Armadia, the humans of Valkyria, and the great city-state of Stalthras (newly established after Sevolaene's War and quickly grew to be a great empire over the next five centuries, located in western Astralis Caelum) as its might leader. Stalthras' king and its Estate of nobles wished to be of the Cael's influence once and for all. Without the Cael, humans could rule themselves and could finally rule over the (then feared and hated) Valkyr. Stage One: AD 1000 - 1001 The Stalthras Alliance quickly conquered most of Astralis Caelum with the help of their technology. The Valkyr of their own city could barely contain the rioting humans and the Faeries had been weakened by Stalthras' growing influence over the past five centuries, therefore making them unable to fight back. Worst of all, the Stalts decide to burn the Laerenfell Forest to destroy the Faeries. They nearly succeed, but Rasythaeri, the Cael of the Forest, saved the Faeries by extinguishing the flames and sending the surviving gargantuan creatures of the forest against the Stalts, forcing them to retreat. Stage Two: AD 1001 - 1010 The Cael, greatly alerted by the humans' actions, quickly realize that if they are not stopped, the beloved land that they had created would soon be destroyed. Jastaen assumes power as temporary Emperor of the Cael, with Wodaen and Rasythaeri as his top generals. The war goes on at two fronts, the Weset (Rasythaeri vs Stalthras) and the North (Wodaen vs Armadia and Umaria). Progress is slow going, as the humans' technology is much stronger than the Cael thought it would be. Eventually, Stalthras ceases their assault on the Faeries and Inari, having met its match, and starts to focus on helping Umaria and Armadia on destroying Wodaen and his forces of Einherjar and Valkyr, nearly succeeding. At this point, the Entities understand that the humans are not repentant and must be either punished or destroyed. Stage Three: AD 1011 On Jastaen's orders, Wodaen and his son Ventas go to Valkyria and show their true power to the rioting humans. Afterwards, the terrified humans surrender to them. Greatly angered, the Alliance turned their attention to the city and launch a full out assault. Surrounded by all sides, Juno and Augaias come to the duo's aid and successfully hold off the Alliance. Odin then secretly teleports to Sevolaene's prison, where the severely weakened Cael had been for over more than five centuries. Wodaen strikes a bargain with her, promising to release her if she helps punish the humans invading her city. Additionally, if she helped win the war, control of Valkyr would be returned to her. She agreed and Wodaen breaks the seal imprisoning her and they return to Valkyr. With the help of the other Cael, they uteerly destroy the invading army. Meanwhile, in the East, the Cael Vystraeus destroys the entire Armadian and Umarian navy as well as two flagship airships, effectively ending the humans' offense. Stage Four: AD 1011 Following the crippling defeat at Valkyria, the Stalthras Alliance is in disarray. Without their fleet, Umaria slowly withdraws from the Alliance, fearing the wrath of the Cael if they were to continue fighting against them. Armadia later follows their example, angering Stalthras, who fights on alone. However, within the following two months, suffering defeat after defeat, the Cael completely annihilate the city, wiping it off the map and transform the remaining survivors into what would become the fourth race of Astralis Caelum: the golems. This event ends the conflict known as the Alliance War. A Brief Respite Now that the humans have ceased their assault and are the mercy of the Cael, unease quickly sweeps through Asren, the home of the Cael. Jastaen and his followers wish to destroy the remaining humans and to start anew with another race, but Wodaen and the rest of the Cael think that the humans have learned their lesson. A few years go by without and end to the matter and finally Jastaen goes forth and destroys two lesser city-states under Wodaen's protection, sparking an even more terrible conflict than ever seen before in Astralis Caelian history. Participants AESIR CAEL VS SEVTAER CAEL *Wodaen *Jastaen Sevolaene Juno Ventas Artaemesia Heimdall Varus Tyr Faustas Rasythaeri Laeraesia Vystraeus Creatures Humans Valkyr A Neverending Cycle Astralis Caelum was nearly destroyed during the final stage of the war. Most of the northeastern plains of the land was burned, leaving the ground barren and the entire area was uninhabitable for two centuries. Armadia and Umaria as well as countless other city-states were destroyed. Wherever the Cael clashed, they left nothing but devastation in their wake. Almost the entire human race was extinguished, so the Aesir turned to Thanatos, the Cael who presided over the dead, to revive as many as humans as possible to replenish the scattered human armies. He reluctantly did so, despite the fact that he would then be responsible for perpetuating the cycle of war. Soon after, Jastaen and Faustas show up in his domain of the underworld and demand that he also revive their own forces. He also complies with this with great reluctance. Soon the Cael lost sight of their original goals of the war and needlessly fought on for another century or so until Faustas and Laeraesia eventually came to their senses and realized that the war would never end unless one side was weakened. They defected to the Aesir, no longer caring if the Sevtaer won or lost. The day finally came at the Battle of the Rift, where the Cael clashed one final time. Jastaen kills Laeraesia, Ventas, and Tyr, but is in turn killed, along with most of the Sevtaer, by an enraged Wodaen and Faustas. The souls of the fallen fell into the Rift where the underworld awaited... A Missing Cael Almost immediately after the battle, Wodaen and Faustas went to the underworld to seek out Thanatos, but discover that he is nowhere to be found. They search all of the ravaged Astralis Caelum in vain, but since his soul is not among the dead, the Cael conclude that he must have fled to Earth, where they dared not trespass, knowing that their sudden arrival in a world where they are forgotten and known only in myths and legends would upset the balance there. Without Thanatos, The Cycle officially came to an end and the Cael then quickly concentrate on restoring Astralis Caelum to its former glory. The Healing of a World It took at least 200 years to make Astralis Caelum inhabitable for creatures again and another century for humanity to get back on its feet. Even the two races that were not involved in the war, the Faeries and Golems, were affected and helped the Cael and humans reconstruct Astralis Caelum before retreating back into their isolation. The city-states were rebuilt and slowly rose to their former glory, but the technology that they had created more than a century ago was lost and human society reverted back to using magic, adopting only conventional technology (ie. plumbing) and new ships being built were made of wood and used sails, not relying on engines. In fact, technology develops so slowly afterwards to the point that by Tifa's Crisis, nothing appears to have changed at first glance. Division After restoring most of Astralis Caelum, the Cael decided to divide it up into five parts: North Terra, East Terra, West Terra, the Underworld, and the newly formed chain of islands off of the AC coast collectively called the Sirenvael. Each was to be ruled by a Cael, and a new city was built in each Terra as the new seat of each Cael's power. Wodaen ruled North Terra from Mikata, Faustas took Thanatos' place and ruled the Underworld in his stead, and Vystraeus ruled the Sirenvael. This division continues well into Tifa's Crisis. Effects on the Future Faustas forever held an eternal grudge against Thanatos for cowardly leaving when he needed him the most. His beloved Laeraesia was gone, but strangely enough, her soul was not among the countless others in the Underworld (later to be called Terra Demento) and he scoured fat and wide in a vain attempt to find her soul. Over the years, his anger towards Thanatos turned into hate for all of the Cael, who he deemed responsible for starting The Cycle. He discovered that his anger and hate gave birth to a new power: Corruption. Faustas then used his newfound ability to turn the souls of the dead into his servants: the Demons, the final race of Astralis Caelum. After building up an army, he waged war against the Cael, spawning numerous Crises and the Shadow Wars.